Arab Democratic Party

The Arab Democratic Party (ADP) is a Ba'athist and Arab nationalist political party in Lebanon which was founded in 1974 by Ali Eid. The party originated as the "Alawite Youth Movement", which drew support from the Shia Alawite minority in Lebanon and was backed by the Syrian government. Based out of the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood Tripoli, the ADP was arch-rivals with the Sunni Islamist militant groups of Bab al-Tabbaneh, suppressing them with help from the Syrian Arab Army, the SSNP, the Lebanese Ba'ath Party, and the Lebanese Communist Party. The ADP joined the Jammoul alliance in September 1982 during the First Lebanon War, fighting against the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon and its invasion of central Lebanon; the ADP came to have a militia of 500 fighters. After the Taif Agreement of 1990, the ADP became an affiliate of the pro-Syria March 8 Alliance, and it continued to fight against the Sunni militias of Tripoli during the Syrian Civil War's spillover in Lebanon.